Hulu will stream these Family guy Halloween special on October 14, the first two exclusive holiday specials that precede the highly-anticipated season 23 of the show. The animated show, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, was created by Seth MacFarlane for Fox and now boasts Rich Appel (King of the Hill) and Alec Sulkin (Ted) as its showrunners.
Family guys Halloween special centers around a pumpkin contest, in which the show’s cast of characters must face off against champion Patrick McCloskey (voiced by Twisters star Glenn Powell). Intertwined with the annual quahog competition is Stevie’s relationship troubles with his normally inconsequential teddy bear Rupert, who is now voiced by Gosford ParkDerek Jacobi and has developed a taste for violence. While this isn’t the first time Rupert has spoken, it’s his biggest role on the show yet. Along with special guest stars, Family guy Favorites including MacFarlane himself, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis and Arif Zahir also appear.
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Screen Rant Interviewed Apel and Sulkin about some of the ideas behind Family guyIt’s Halloween special, especially when it comes to the casting process. The showrunners also looked back on the previous decade of Family guy And the reasons why the show was so successful for even more than that.
The secret to bringing Rupert to life explained by Family Guy showrunners
“Such a classically trained actor coming through with his accent naturally felt right for Stewie’s partner.”
Screen Rant: Many moons have passed with Rupert rarely speaking a word, and now he has an entire guest star and storyline dedicated to him. Can we talk about bringing him to life and making him a little stubby?
Rich Apple: We’re always looking for something fresh and new. This is not the first time that Rupert has spoken, but it is certainly the first time that he has had such a sustained role.
One of the longtime writers on our show, Gary Janetti, has a series in England with Ian Macallan and Derek Jacobi. Unlike most cartoons, we knew we were in with Derek Jacobi, and the idea of ​​taking such a classically trained actor who comes through with his accent naturally felt right for Stewie’s partner.
Screen Rant: Can you speak to the idea behind the Halloween special? Are there specific horror stories that it was inspired by? Of course, with Rupert, we see a piece of Play child’s play There, but is there anything else that you’re pulling from?
Alec Sulkin: There’s a little bit of the single white female element to it, where Rupert is kind of telling Stevie, “If I can’t have you, no one can.” That feels like, not necessarily a Halloween trope, but a sort of horror movie trope.
But I think Rich caught it when we realized we could get Derek Jacobi – which sounds like a weird thing to say in 2024, because he’s not exactly on everyone’s mind, but he’s just a fantastic actor and really had fun with the Role.
I think through Glenn Powell in one of the stories and then Derek Jacobi in the other, it felt like, “Okay, we’re covering our bases here.”
Glen Powell plays Quahog’s Pumpkin Content Champion Patrick McCloskey
“I thought, apologies to Glenn, ‘Who better to play a cocky a-hole?'”
Screen Rant: At what point in the process did Glen Powell come in? Did you always know he was going to voice the character? Do you have that vision and foresight, or are you like, “This man is blown up. Let’s get on with it?”
Rich Apple: I happen to know him a little and have known him for several years. I remember he shot Top Gun: Maverick before COVID, and its release was delayed, and everyone who saw it knew the movie was going to be very good. And he’s just a great guy.
I literally bumped into him, or I happened to see him, when we were just about to read the episode. I thought, apologizing to Glenn, “Who better to play a cocky a-hole?” He was so game, just like Derek Jacobi, and came into the office.
He came to the office unannounced and, as if that wasn’t enough bait, he brought along his beautiful dog, who is often on his Instagram posts. Word spread, and even in a post-work-from-home environment, people began streaming around the recording booth. He was quite nice to everyone.
Family Guy’s 25-year legacy shows no signs of slowing down
“That’s in large part due to our smart and capable and hilarious writers.”
Screen Rant: We are celebrating 25 years of Family guyand it continues to this day. It’s still a relevant, significant, omnipresent part of pop culture. How do you guys do it?
Alec Sulkin: It’s been a pleasure running the show with Rich, who’s been running it longer than I have. But I’ve been there for almost nine years with him, and I think we work well together in that capacity. In any other capacity, by the way – we are terrible minors.
Honestly, I was thinking about this today. We just have a lot of very smart and funny writers, and times change and comedy tastes change. I think people have this idea of, “Family Guy’s grandfathered in, and they’re immune to all that.” But, no, we have to change with the times. Maybe not as much as some other shows, but that’s in large part due to our smart and capable and hilarious writers, who can feel the changes happening in society and find the funniest way to do them in Family Guy. I think that was a big part of why we’re still here.
Rich Appel: I would just piggyback on that and say that from the early years – and I wasn’t there for many of those early years – Seth was fearless. 25 years ago, just like today, people react to a comedy that is kind of fearless. Sometimes people say, “You’re an equal opportunity offender,” and I think that’s very reductive. I don’t think that’s the bread and butter of the show. I think the show is fearless in taking on stories and telling them in a realistic way, and reality isn’t always that hypersensitive to anyone’s reaction to stuff. In fact, we all know it isn’t.
The three longest-running comedies on the air right now are The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park. What do these shows have in common? I think the huge advantage that animated shows have is that we have a cast of 35 characters at least, like The Simpsons. It’s just a simple math that the number of stories you can tell and the type of stories you can tell goes up. We have characters that represent as many different walks of life as a regular sitcom. They were limited by budget, so they had seven actors. It just helps to have a novelistic world of characters.
More about Family Guy’s 2024 Halloween special
“Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater”: Peter and his friends aim to defeat the reigning champion (Glen Powell) in Quahog’s annual pumpkin contest by any means necessary.
The 25th Anniversary Halloween Special of Family guy Premieres October 14, exclusively on Hulu.